SEK, CNC leagues make preseason picks at luncheon

Southeast Kansas League and Crawford-Neosho-Cherokee League (without the ‘N’ but we’ll explain that later) basketball coaches gathered Monday for the preseason luncheon sponsored by The Ticket -- 99.1 ESPN Radio. Polls were announced and the coaches spoke to gathered colleagues and media.

By BROCK SISNEY

Morning Sun

By BROCK SISNEY

Posted Nov. 13, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Nov 13, 2012 at 12:16 PM

By BROCK SISNEY

Posted Nov. 13, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Nov 13, 2012 at 12:16 PM

PITTSBURG

Southeast Kansas League and Crawford-Neosho-Cherokee League (without the ‘N’ but we’ll explain that later) basketball coaches gathered Monday for the preseason luncheon sponsored by The Ticket -- 99.1 ESPN Radio. Polls were announced and the coaches spoke to gathered colleagues and media.

Preseason favorites are the Frontenac girls and the Riverton boys in the CNC, the Fort Scott girls and the Coffeyville and Labette County boys in the SEK.

Here are some of the highlights from the 2012 basketball coaches edition of “Coaches Say the Darndest Things.”

• Pittsburg girls head coach Kim O’Bray on her name change: OK, so Coach Peterson, I’m still going to answer to that. I got married this summer, so you may also hear O’Bray used for my last name. I’ll answer to pretty much anything. Coach Peterson, Coach O’Bray, Coach Peterson-O’Bray, Coach P, Coach O, hey you, whatever.

• Independence girls head coach Dale Reynolds on new Parsons head coach Bridgette Kendricks’ age remark: I kinda resent that, that old people you used to coach against. I still get up and down the floor, maybe one or two trips and I’ve got to call the oxygen in. I still try.

• Labette County girls assistant basketball coach Heather Wilson on filling in Monday for veteran head coach Kristi Snider: I’ve actually coached with Coach Snider for about 15 years but she never actually brought me to this event. This is new for me.

• Chanute girls head coach Dustin Fox on being picked so high in the preseason: I don’t appreciate the pressure of the three first place votes.

• Fort Scott girls head coach Jeff Armstrong on preseason SEK No. 1: I would love to just go ahead and end it now and we can just have a party for the rest of the year if we end the season right here because I know better than that. I had a hard time filling it out, to be honest with you. I’ve got different ones every time I filled one out.

• Parsons boys head coach Mike Krull on his returning players: Really quite simple. We lost everybody . . . 5.1 and 3.2 — 5.1 is what we return in points and 3.2 is what we return in rebounds.

• Pittsburg boys head coach Kiley Roelfs on a 12-game league schedule: I’m a big proponent of the double round-robin. I hate to see those other teams (Columbus, Iola) go but SEK game night is just a fun, fun time.

• Fort Scott boys head coach Jeff DeLaTorre on the first day of practice: We did a morning practice this morning and I’m kind of feeling the effects of that. I’m not really a morning person but we had a good practice this morning. We had about 24 upperclassmen that are coming out . . . we had one no show, two no physicals but nobody wore jeans. We’re good there.

Page 2 of 3 -
• Labette County boys head coach Brad Smith (the dean of the SEK coaches) on Kendricks’ joke about age: They put a defibrillator right outside of Harrison Gymnasium for (Labette assistant coach Clint) Witty and I three years ago.

• Smith on his duration as Labette County head coach: I’ve figured this out. When you’ve coached as long as I have . . . first of all, I know why my tenure is this long. My wife is the math specialist and you know math teachers are hard to come by. Also, you know, every once in a while, I hear Labette County-Altamont. Well, you know, it’s kind of interesting, I don’t have any centrally-located coffee shop, we have no newspaper and we have no radio. That’s why you get to stay as long as I have because there’s nobody criticizing, they don’t know where to go.

• New Coffeyville boys head coach and Labette County graduate Tyler Thompson on his phone conversation with his former coach Smith: First time I got the call ‘Hey, you’ve got the job,’ I said I need to let a few people know. Coach Smith, he helped me through and gave me advice. I told him, ‘Hey, before you hear it somewhere else, I got a job at Coffeyville and just want to let you know and thanks for everything.’ He said, ‘Oh, that’s great, congratulations, you can’t have your brother (Labette County junior sharpshooter Tucker Thompson).’

• Galena girls head coach Derik Hunt on being picked last in the CNC: We’re right where we should be. We weren’t very good last year. We weren’t very competitive. One of my assistants said, ‘Well, the good thing is we’ve got everybody back.’ The bad thing is we’ve got everybody back.

• Southeast girls head coach Lylin Cowan (a veteran basketball coach) on moving into a head coach position: This is the first year I’ve ever coached. I’ve got myself in a situation this year that I guess I’m going to have to do some coaching. Usually, I can sit around and complain about how bad a job you guys are doing. I have a great atmosphere to work in at Southeast.

• Girard girls head coach Brad Herlocker on Cowan: We added Lylin back there (to the league’s coaches). He used to be my assistant but don’t let him fool you about never coaching before, because he was actually my seventh grade basketball coach. So, he’s been at this a little longer than most of us.

• Frontenac girls head coach Jeremy Rakes on the jump from Class 3A to 4A: If you talk to anybody from Frontenac, it’s the worst thing to ever happen. . . . We’re looking forward to the challenge and playing the competition that we’ll see.

Page 3 of 3 -
• Baxter Springs boys head coach Kyle Crotts on being picked last in the CNC: My wife will be happy with where we’re picked. We were talking last night and I said I think we’ll be picked seventh or eighth. She goes, ‘Well, I hope eighth’ and I said, ‘Why?’ She said, ‘It’s because you can’t get any lower.’

• Frontenac boys head coach Doug Barto on the first day of practice: We had 41 kids this morning and I’m not sure how many are going to show up this evening. One passed out and seven puked . . . I waited until everybody was done eating.

• St. Mary’s Colgan boys head coach Wayne Cichon on Cowan: Coach Cowan, you make me feel so much younger. Coach Cowan was at Girard when I was doing my student teaching. I kind of feel good now. I’m not the oldest guy around here. (Cichon has been the Colgan boys head coach since 1983.)

• Cichon on Girard boys head coach Rod Wescott arriving earlier in the day than most CNC coaches: Rod, you really were here for the SEK. I thought that was a joke. Holy cow!

• Riverton boys head coach Zach Martin on being picked first: There is some excitement, some buzz around the school, around the community with the upcoming season. This isn’t going to help temper expectations down at the corner store too much.

NOTE: Longtime CNC member Erie will now be playing in the Tri-Valley League, a move that was delayed to winter sports because of scheduling commitments during football season. With the Red Devils gone, all eight league schools are from Crawford or Cherokee counties.